(2) what the average waiting time was for first jobseeker interviews for a claim for jobseeker's allowance in the latest period for which information is available.
Jobcentre Plus does not collect the average waiting time. The available information on the percentage of new jobseeker interviews booked within three days from the date the customer first contacts us is in the table. The data show performance for the operational year ending March 2009 down to district level, the smallest geographical area available.
New jobseeker interviews booked within three days March 2009 YTD (percentage) Derbyshire 69.7 Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 71.5 Lincolnshire and Rutland 71.5 Nottinghamshire 64.8 East Midlands 69.5 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 80.9 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk 73.0 Essex 80.2 Norfolk 72.9 East of England 77.3 Central London 80.7 City and East London 81.8 Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth 74.0 North and North East London 84.8 South London 79.6 West London 80.3 London 80.5 Northumbria 73.7 South Tyne and Wear Valley 73.1 Tees Valley 71.9 North East 73.0 Cheshire and Warrington 75.3 Cumbria and Lancashire 69.6 Greater Manchester Central 76.0 Greater Manchester East and West 69.6 Merseyside 76.2 North West 72.8 Ayr, Dumfries and Galloway 86.4 Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders 82.6 Forth Valley and Fife 86.6 Glasgow 85.3 Highlands, Islands and Clyde 81.4 Lanarkshire 88.0 Office for Scotland 84.9 North and Mid Wales 82.5 South East Wales 83.9 South Wales Valleys 77.0 South West Wales 84.2 Office for Wales 81.7 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 74.9 Hampshire 75.8 Kent 62.6 Surrey and Sussex 64.0 South East 68.8 Devon and Cornwall 68.2 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 59.3 Somerset and Dorset 73.3 West of England 70.0 South West 67.6 Birmingham and Solihull 65.5 Black Country 72.6 Coventry and Warwickshire 60.3 Staffordshire 59.1 The Marches 54.4 West Midlands 63.7 North and East Yorkshire and Humber 79.9 South Yorkshire 69.9 West Yorkshire 75.2 Yorkshire and the Humber 75.3 National 74.1 Source: Jobcentre Plus